The heading of an article, 'Now, solve garbage probems through SMS' which appeared in the Times of India, Pune Edition was really impressive. Only thing that worries me is whether the scheme would actually be implemented in letter and spirit.

ANY COMPLAINTS regarding garbage disposal can now be taken up with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) through SMSes. The Sanitation Committee of the National Society for Clean Cities (NSCC) held a meeting with municipal officials recently during which the details of the initiative were shared.

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The NSCC has ben asking the PMC to set up a citizen friendly system by which people can bring complaints regarding garbage and cleanliness to the notice of the PMC. During the meeting PMC officials shared the details of the SMS service to resolve garbage-related complaints.

The best thing that got reported in this article were: (1) For sending SMS, a dedicated mobile phone number would be provided (2) Name of the Ward and details of the problem related to garbage or otherwise to be mentioned; the PMC will forward the complaint to the relevant department at the ward office for redressal (3) The complainant will immediately get a reply mentioning the complaint number.

Hoping the above initiative just does not remain in books and paper but action is taken in a nice way by all concerned agencies. More and more municipal corporations located in different parts of the country can look forward to adopting this model in the future.